FYI ... Daniel Ritchie passes at 93 - Denver Post
Thomas Clayton
Ritchie served as DU chancellor, Westinghouse Broadcasting CEO and chair of DCPA board of trustees
Daniel L. Ritchie carried a worn card in his wallet that espoused 10 principles to live by — his “cowboy ethics.”
Live each day with courage. Take pride in your work. Always finish what you start. Do what has to be done. Be tough, but fair. When you make a promise, keep it. Ride for the brand. Talk less and say more. Remember that some things aren’t for sale. Know where to draw the line.
Ritchie, a private man whose generosity and hard work resurrected and shaped some of Colorado’s most important institutions, stuck to those cowboy ethics through all of his 93 years.
The University of Denver chancellor emeritus, a onetime CEO of major communications corporations including Westinghouse Broadcasting, and former chairman of the board of trustees for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, died Thursday night.
When his longtime friend David Thomson — an accomplished Colorado real estate developer — thought about what people should know about the man he considered a father figure, he said that despite Ritchie’s achievements, he wouldn’t have wanted a cloying, self-serving homage.
Instead, Thomson said his friend would have chosen to put his story out into the world to inspire future generations to be a good neighbor. To get involved in their own backyard. To not only envision a better world, but act to bring that vision into reality.
“Who is going to be the next Dan Ritchie?” Thomson said. “These trailblazers are gone from Denver, and who is going to lead that effort forward? Dan wanted to set an example for people. How can we teach these young people to go out and make their community better? Let’s leave not a shrine of Dan Ritchie, but a message of Dan Ritchie.”
DU’s “greatest friend and champion”
When Ritchie took the helm at DU in 1989, the private university was in severe financial trouble, said Thomson, who served as student body president at that time.
Thomson was figuring out how to tell his fellow students they could not return to campus.
But when Ritchie stepped in, he persuaded DU board members to participate in matching grants to the school, and he donated his ranch in Kremmling to underwrite the matches — a deal that brought in tens of millions of dollars to the university.
“There aren’t adequate words to express Dan Ritchie’s impact on the University of Denver,” DU Chancellor Jeremy Haefner said. “His love of this institution was contagious. By getting others to see our potential, he built us up, literally and figuratively. Dan was known not just for his steady and visionary leadership. He was also known for his deep commitment to the people and institutions he held dear. DU has lost its greatest friend and champion.”
Ritchie’s business acumen, steady leadership and knack for philanthropy righted the rough seas for a number of Denver’s most iconic organizations, and his commitment to community lives on through their storied legacies, Thomson said.
At age 32, he heads a major Colorado financial empire. Newest and youngest of the big name executives in Denver’s financial mainstream is Dan L. Ritchie, at 32 executive vice president and operating head of the $95 million Columbia Savings & Loan Association, photographed on August 2, 1964. (Denver Post file)Business acumen and philanthropy
Ritchie grew up in China Grove, North Carolina — the son to a farm implement dealer.
He earned his undergraduate education at Harvard University and graduated with an MBA in 1956.
His resume is a testament to his leadership and work ethic:
A securities analyst for Lehman Brothers on Wall Street. CEO and chairman of Columbia Savings and Loan Association in Denver. A move to Hollywood, where he served as executive vice president of the Music Corporation of America. President and founder of natural foods product company Archon Pure Products Company.
In 1974, Ritchie joined Westinghouse, later becoming the chairman and CEO of the broadcasting corporation for eight years before moving back to Colorado in 1987.
In 1983, Ritchie had elected to DU’s Board of Trustees. Through his work, the university raised more than $14 million. When Ritchie became the 16th chancellor in 1989, the future of the university was in peril.
Dan Ritchie, seen here in 1999, ushered in a renaissance at the University of Denver including rebuilding much of the campus. (Photo by Lyn Alweis/The Denver Post)Related Articles
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Ritchie gifted DU $15 million in 1994 by selling 19,600 acres of his prized Kremmling cattle ranch — a gift that set a philanthropy record for educational nonprofits in Colorado, according to the university.
His namesake — the Daniel L. Ritchie Center for Sports & Wellness — stands on DU’s campus as a permanent remembrance of the former chancellor’s generosity.
Ritchie presided over a fundraising campaign that brought in more than $400 million toward new facilities and infrastructure at DU, and he introduced initiatives that centered his passion for education and sports — including making DU a leader in study abroad programs and spearheading the Denver Pioneers’ move to NCAA Division I Athletics.
After his tenure as chancellor ended in 2005, Ritchie became chairman and CEO of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
“Being responsible in your community — I think that is what Dan has done,” Thomson said.. “He has involved himself in so many things to enrich the lives of people of Colorado. Not just Denver, but all of Colorado.”
 | Tom Clayton Communication and Media Specialist, Public Affairs |
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